Saturday, January 8, 2011

Most significantly, food blogging really became than just a hobby for me; it became an integral part of my life. I usually tell people that I started blogging because of my time in Paris during the summer of 2009 (which is true), but as I reflect upon my blog, I realized that I was never really serious about it until a few months after.

Near the beginning of 2010, I attended The Gold Standard. It felt like my official introduction to the food and wine culture in L.A. It was my first time attending a food event, and every little bite felt like an informal "hello!" from the restaurants Jonathan Gold called his favorites.

During spring break, I had my first meal at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Taiwan, after which I really became more aware of the beauty in the plating of food. It was the first time I'd witnessed such precision in what goes on a plate, and I was completely awestruck the entire meal.

Around the same time, by some cosmic chance, I was invited to a FoodDigger preview dinner at Ludobites 4.0. It was my first "real life" interaction with other food bloggers, and I was finally able to begin putting faces and blog names together.

After that, it snowballed, and I'm sincerely grateful to have found so many new foodie friends. It really is a joy to eat with people who enjoy food as much as I do. I began eating out much more often with food bloggers including a dessert tasting at the now-closed Sona with Tsz and a Hatchi dinner at Breadbar with Helen.

I then spent the summer in Spain where I consumed a ridiculous amount of tapas and sangria and had an unforgettable molecular gastronomy experience at Comerç 24. The summer continued to Bordeaux to attend a wedding at a wine château before my final stop in Paris. Perhaps the culmination of my gluttonous year was my stay in Paris with my mom. The Michelin star restaurants we ate at--including Le Jules Verne, Le Cinq, L'Arpège, and L'Astrance--remain unblogged because how to write about their magnificence still escapes me.

As a new school year started, I moved out of the dorms at UCLA and into a new apartment with the best roommates a girl could ask for. I finally had my own kitchen, and I can't even begin to explain the difference that made. I also started a food writing internship at Los Angeles Magazine with Lesley in the Dine department. It has been immensely rewarding in more ways than one, and I definitely hope to continue with it this year.

But enough about 2010. I want to talk about 2011 and my exciting new gig at Scoops Westside. This is perhaps the biggest step I've made so far towards my dream of opening up my own patisserie someday, and it's all thanks to "The Ice Cream Man."

Scoops Westside

3400 Overland Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90034

tel: 323-405-7055

As many of you may know, Matt of Mattatouille recently opened up Scoops Westside, the second location of an ice cream shop with exciting flavors such as Pistachio Jasmine, Guiness Chocolate, and Maple Black Truffle. On top of that, he offers Intelligentsia drip coffee and loose leaf tea. It is the best coffee I've had to this day. Within the short time that Scoops Westside has been open, the place has not only become an after school introduction of exotic flavors to little kids who think they only like plain vanilla ice cream, but also a laid back hangout for the foodie community of L.A.

So when Matt asked me if I'd like to bake some of my biscotti for him to sell at Scoops, I thought I'd misheard him. I had brought him some as a treat, but never in my wildest dreams did I think he'd like them enough as to want to sell them in his shop. That night, I was so excited I couldn't sleep. The next day, I showed up with at Scoops with a fresh batch of Orange Almond Biscotti for sale. Please stop by and try some with your ice cream or coffee!

And here is the recipe for that biscotti. I think it's the best biscotti recipe I've ever used.

hey christina!! if you make your macarons to sell there as well, i will freakin' book butt over to scoops westside...even if scoops on heliotrope is just a hop and a skip away from me. congrats on your new gig!